In such a nearly airtight space, it is normal for mobile phones to have no signal, but for some reason, Chu Zihang always feels a little uneasy.
"Kerosene lamp?" Lu Mingfei in front suddenly said, "What are you doing? Such a primitive lighting method?"
Lu Mingfei picked up a few kerosene lamps from somewhere. They were not in the style of modern oil lamps, but more like ancient handicrafts, and a few old-fashioned matches.
Chu Zihang looked at the battery level of his mobile phone. It was 27%. Keeping the flash on would definitely not last long, and the range of flashlight illumination was very limited. If there was no electric light, a kerosene lamp would be the best choice.
Lu Mingfei struck a match and lit the oil lamp, which emitted an old burnt smell. I don't know if it was a coincidence, but a total of three lamps were lit. Lu Mingfei, Chu Zihang and Hui Liyi each held one.
It looked like the explorers in the movie who went deep into the old castle. They took a few steps forward and then stopped in unison.
The moderate firelight was divided up by this space, and Lu Mingfei and the others finally saw clearly what kind of room they were in.
Paper, everything is paper. Everything you can see, except the walls, ceiling and the narrow gaps where it can fit, are filled with paper. The left and right sides of this room look somewhere between a reading room and a collection room.
in between, but far crazier than either.
Yes, it’s crazy, because there are no tables and chairs for resting here, and there are no bookshelves or shelves to be seen. The walls on both sides are stacked with hardcover books with badly worn covers. Some of them are very old and even look like
Passed down from the Middle Ages, these books are stacked from the floor to the height of the ceiling. There are old newspapers and old magazines stacked in the open space in front of them. They are piled together in bundles. Some are yellowed and floating in the air.
There is a musty smell in a confined space that has not been cleaned all year round.
You can even see a few parchment scrolls in the corner, which are like the things used by wizards and witches in medieval Europe to record black magic. Lu Mingfei doesn't know why such things are placed here. Those hired by Su Enxi wear weird masks.
The guy told him that the information they collected was stored here, but how could so much useful information be needed? It seemed that they simply regarded this place as a general store or storage room, and piled everything they found in it.
"Pay attention to the kerosene lamp in your hand. It is full of dry paper and is very flammable." Chu Zihang reminded.
Once a fire breaks out in such a confined space, flames are not the biggest threat. The most painful way to die is to be choked by thick smoke and suffocated to death.
"What is Su Enxi doing? Does she want to engage in waste recycling or a Renaissance?" Lu Mingfei couldn't help complaining, "What kind of people are you asking for? Sort out so many things and find useful information."
Aren't you looking for a needle in a haystack? We can't finish it in one night."
"There will always be something useful, just be patient and take a look first." Chu Zihang said, walking towards the newspapers that looked a little older.
Newspapers from each month, quarter and year are placed in categories. There are city newspapers and tabloid entertainment newspapers. At first glance, they seem to be piled up randomly, but in fact they are all bound in order.
Like huge thread-bound books.
This is a big project that requires patience and takes a lot of time and energy. Chu Zihang doesn't understand the purpose of finding so many old newspapers and binding them according to rules. Could the clues to his father's disappearance be hidden in them?
Chu Zihang picked up a stack of entertainment newspapers and opened the yellowed paper. The headline on the front page made his face change slightly.
“The land reclamation offended the ‘gods’, and 27 members of the engineering team disappeared overnight!”
Eriki walked toward the hardcover books on both sides of the wall that looked like medieval ones. It was obvious that she was very interested in these books that looked very historical, like magic books in fairy tales.
Eriyi picked up a book with a gold cover. The cowhide cover was relatively intact, with only normal wear and tear.
"Song of the Nibelungs"...the name of the book in Eri's hand seems very interesting.
Lu Mingfei casually picked up a bundle of parchment rolls from the corner. When he touched the thing, he couldn't help but frown.
He had seen similar things in the principal's office. Of course, the ones in Angers' office were not fakes. They were all works of art that he had spent a lot of money to buy from auctions and personal collectors. They were at least hundreds of years old... and
These things feel almost exactly the same as the ones Lu Mingfei saw in the Angers office.
These are also genuine...how is that possible?
The most incredible thing was that Lu Mingfei could touch the surface of the parchment scroll and it was actually covered with mold and dust.
Aren't these things just found by those guys? This room is not humid, how could it become moldy and dusty so quickly?
"The Ritual of Clemina: Loyalty, Sacrifice and Heimdall."
"Clemina's ritual? Heimdall?" Lu Mingfei murmured to himself, "The name Heimdall is not from Norse mythology..."
"Lu Mingfei." Chu Zihang's call interrupted Lu Mingfei's thoughts.
Lu Mingfei turned around and looked around. Through the dim light of kerosene, he could see Chu Zihang's shadow waving to him.
"Senior brother?" Lu Mingfei stepped over the newspapers and books scattered on the ground, "Did you find something?"
"In your impression, have you ever seen the news or heard from adults that... many people disappeared in this city." Chu Zihang suddenly asked a creepy question.
"Many people disappeared?" Lu Mingfei shuddered slowly, shook his head and said, "No, except for your father and senior brother Ye Sheng, I have never heard of such a thing."
Lu Mingfei didn't understand what Chu Zihang meant for a while. This was an ordinary coastal city, not a maze or a primitive forest. There was no abyss or man-eating beasts. Why did people disappear... or many people?
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "People disappear in this city every year." Chu Zihang's next sentence was still shocking, "Since a long time ago, at least hundreds of people disappeared.
It was a rainy night in this city, but in the end it was gradually forgotten."
"Senior brother, where did you hear this strange story from?" Lu Mingfei was a little confused.
"It's not a weird story, it's something that really happened in this city, but people didn't remember it later." Chu Zihang said in a low voice, "I have the impression that when I was a child, I heard my father say that someone disappeared one day.
This kind of thing happens every once in a while. Do you remember? When we were in elementary school, we were not allowed to stay after school because disappearances often happened in the city. But later, I don’t know why we all forgot about it.
, everyone seems to have lost their memory, and they only vaguely remember it when they see me now."
As he said that, Chu Zihang unfolded several newspapers towards Lu Mingfei. The dim light of the kerosene lamp illuminated the yellowed papers. In the darkness, several huge headlines appeared in front of Lu Mingfei's eyes.
"Three people disappeared overnight while working on the foundation? Black Prince Group workers went on strike."
"Ghosts attacking the wall? Luxury cars disappearing frequently occur in development zones."
"In a cruel accident, a couple fell into a lake late at night? The police worked hard to salvage them for a week, but the whereabouts of the remains are still unknown."
Coupled with the newspaper that Chu Zihang first held in his hand about the disappearance of 27 people in the engineering team, some incidents happened just a few years ago, and some even spanned decades.
"Senior brother, when you said that, I seem to remember..." Lu Mingfei vaguely remembered that when he was a child, he did occasionally see news about people missing in this city.
Even his uncle and aunt often told him and Lu Mingze to go home early after school and not to stay by the lake or in strange places. Last month, the child from his uncle's unit went to the lake to play, but he hasn't been found yet.
I don’t know if the person was swept away by the water or abducted by traffickers.
This city is very strange. Not only does it have an abnormal climate, but there are always incidents of missing people, mostly during heavy rains. When Lu Mingfei can remember, there were adults around him who said that when the city was being built, they were accidentally disturbed.
When you are Tai Sui, someone above you is very angry and causes some natural and man-made disasters every year. This is a punishment and a sacrifice!
The memory is very blurry, but these things really happened. But if Chu Zihang hadn't reminded him, Lu Mingfei couldn't remember it at all. He didn't know if he had forgotten it alone or if everyone else had forgotten it.
...This feels very strange and strange, as if the memory has been tampered with.
"Yes, there are such things, but why can't I remember them?" Lu Mingfei patted his head, "It's not that you mentioned it, senior brother, or that I saw these news, I even seem to have lost this memory.
Similar."
"It's not just you who feels this way. Before I saw these old news, I couldn't remember them at all." Chu Zihang said to Lu Mingfei, "My memory is more confusing than yours. I even read it several times.
, after instilling a strong memory in myself, I gradually had a vague impression. At first, I thought it was the 'Mandela Effect'. I was not sure whether these news were fabricated, so I asked you for confirmation in a positive tone. Seeing you
I can be sure of my reaction. It is not my illusion or my imagination. These are the real history that happened in this city, but I have forgotten it."
Lu Mingfei's body stiffened. He was not the only one who had forgotten these things, but also Chu Zihang, not even just the two of them, but everyone... Everyone in this city had forgotten that what happened in this city
The feeling of hundreds of people disappearing, large and small, is so weird, even more terrifying than the fact that hundreds of people are missing.
It's as if there is an invisible force that unknowingly distorts everyone's memories.
Being able to influence people in an entire city... isn't a guy with this kind of power a "god"?
"Is there any word spirit that can do such a thing?" Lu Mingfei asked in a low voice, "What word spirit can affect everyone's memory?"
"I don't know, but someone who can do this kind of thing should at least be at the Dragon King level, such as... King Bai." Chu Zihang looked at Hui Liyi, then looked at Lu Mingfei and shook his head, "But King Bai
already dead."
"But let's not forget that we have all forgotten this matter. So many people have really disappeared. Where have they gone?" Lu Mingfei frowned, "After so many years, no one has been found."
?This is too unreasonable, just like your father, senior brother. If you hadn’t been looking for him, maybe everyone in the world has forgotten him..."
"Lu Mingfei!" Chu Zihang suddenly interrupted Lu Mingfei's words with a low roar.
"Sorry, senior brother, I didn't mean to poke your scar..." Lu Mingfei said slightly apologetically.
"No, your words remind me of a possibility." Chu Zihang looked into Lu Mingfei's eyes and said word by word, "If it's not that we forgot, but the existence of those people... was erased
Woolen cloth?"
"Existence... was erased?" Lu Mingfei repeated these words in astonishment, as if he had recited a magic spell. After finishing speaking, he shuddered hard.
Compared with the erasure of memory, erasure of one's own existence is obviously more terrifying, but this statement is not completely unreasonable. At least there are people Lu Mingfei knows who have this ability... Lu Mingfei looked at the wall
Under the mottled firelight, he seemed to hear the devil's low taunt.
Chu Zihang thought of another thing. He remembered the ghost figures he saw seven years ago when he encountered the accident on the elevated highway on a rainy night... Where did those things come from? Their number
Many of them are like unconscious walking zombies. So what kind of existence did they have before they turned into those things? Is it possible that they were ordinary humans?
People in this city disappear inexplicably every year and are gradually forgotten. If they become something other than human beings, does that mean their original existence has been replaced?
So dad, if I can still find you, can I still recognize you...or, are you still the same person?
The unshaven man flashed through Chu Zihang's mind. He always loved to laugh and was very talkative. Chu Zihang obviously spent half an hour every day recalling his experiences with him, but for some reason, the appearance of that man made him
His mind had become a little blurry.
Chu Zihang felt scared for no reason. He looked at the yellowed and old newspapers. These old newspapers were piled up in this closed room. If they hadn't paid special attention to reading them today, I'm afraid there would be no one in the world.
Will think of these things... Chu Zihang is afraid that his memory will be like the things recorded in these old newspapers. It obviously happened, but was gradually forgotten by people, and was finally submerged in the dust of history.
If a person is forgotten by everyone in the world, then his existence is truly erased. How powerless and desperate must he be?
"Brother, are you afraid that you will forget?" Lu Mingfei noticed that Chu Zihang's mood was not right, he comforted, "Didn't you keep a memo? Don't be afraid, if you really forget, I will help you
Remember, I will definitely not forget you, and I will remind you when the time comes."